Published on 04 January 2024
One of the region’s charity champions has been sharing his life’s story so far - from his days as a student at the University of Sunderland to setting up an award-winning foundation which saves hundreds of lives each year.
Sergio Petrucci features as the first successful CEO in a podcast series, set up by the University’s Faculty of Business, Law and Tourism, which focuses on leading lights in the region and how they became successful, discussing their career highs and lows and what advice they can offer students in terms of their own future progression.
Sunderland Business and Marketing graduate Sergio and his wife Emma, also a Primary Education graduate, were awarded charitable status for their Red Sky Foundation in 2020, to support the Children’s Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, after their daughter Luna underwent life-saving surgery.
The couple wanted to express their thanks by raising money to help fund machines, equipment, specialist nursing care, holistic treatment, as well as hosting an annual Red Sky Ball and various fundraising challenges throughout the year. They have now raised more than £1 million to support the unit and have branched out into communities and educational work, as well funding the provision of more than 500 publicly available defibrillators across the region and the wider UK – including one at the University’s St Peter’s Campus.
In his podcast, Sergio talks about Red Sky Foundation, which led to the couple each being awarded MBEs in the King's birthday honours this year, but also reflects on the journey to be able to run a successful charitable organisation.
Dr Derek Watson, Associate Professor in Cultural Management, who launched the podcast series at Spark Radio, says: “We are always mindful of the need to offer innovative ways for our students to learn and enrich their university experience. We hope this podcast offers just that – it is teaching beyond the textbook, focusing on insightful conversations on politics, planetary topics and people, to better understand our complex world.
He added: “We were delighted to have alumni student and CEO of the Red Sky Foundation Sergio as our first guest. We discussed Sergio’s time at the University and how he carved out a successful career in sales and marketing in distinct market sectors, before setting up Red Sky.”
As part of the interview, 47-year-old Sergio, from Sunderland, discussed his early life working for his father in the family business, cleaning floors in salons and retail stores, how he secured a place at the University's Business School where he says he was “given a chance to prove himself”.
He also reflected on working in the automotive sector and local radio in sales and marketing, observing different styles of management that he benchmarked against his own father’s guidance and core values.
On a personal note, he talked about getting married to Emma, a former student of the University, having children, being told his daughter was gravely ill with two holes in her heart, setting up Red Sky from scratch, as well as invites to the Queen’s Garden Party, No10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minster and receiving an MBE from King Charles in his first birthday honours as the monarch.
Sergio said: “It was great to be back on campus and share my own personal and professional journey with the University. I feel honoured to be the first to take part in this podcast series. I hope students can take something away from my own experiences, and it will help in some way shape their own careers.”
To listen or download the full podcast click here.
The podcast was produced with the support of the University’s Media School podcast expert Dr Richard Berry, Professor Caroline Mitchell, Master’s student Megan Percival, Lara Milnes, from the corporate team and Elena Perez, from the University’s Alumni team.